Alan Brogan doesn't believe Brendan O'Sullivan tried to gain an unfair advantage by taking a banned supplement.
The Kerry player served a 7 month suspension for failing a doping test in the wake of the 2016 Allianz League final defeat to Dublin.
The former Dublin forward feels ignorance is no excuse as it is the players duty to educate themselves on what they can and cannot take:
“They have a pretty strong education programme on the anti-doping stuff so it’s important that every player has access to that and is aware of it so this situation doesn’t arise again.
"When you compare it to maybe some of the doping in the cycling and athletics, I don’t think Brendan (O’Sullivan) was taking the stuff to gain an advantage, I think it was just a silly mistake which is not an excuse.”
Brogan hopes lessons will be learned when it comes to transparency in the anti-doping programme for the GAA.
O’Sullivan's ban was served in secret after he lodged an initial appeal when he was handed a two-year suspension.
Brogan feels the process needs to be clearer in future:
“It probably should come out a bit sooner than a year after the event or however long it was, even longer than a year after the event.
"I think as long as we’re learning from this stuff all the time, as I said, I don’t think it’s a case of he was trying to take something to enhance his performance. I think it was a stupid mistake he made.”
Brogan was speaking as the GAA and GPA announced a new partnership with Pat the Baker to promote the new Protein Bread.
The five year revenue share agreement will see a percentage of all sales going towards the GPA Player Development Programme, supported by the GAA.
The programme assists county players in critical areas of their off-field lives including education, career and personal development, health and wellbeing.
